Creation Care
Readings for this week April 1 - 5
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings.
Day 1 – Not What We Were Meant to Do
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Genesis 1:26-19
These verses have caused a lot of trouble in their time – not that we necessarily knew it would be so at the start. More specifically, our varied interpretations, and our prolonged inability to understand what God actually required of us as his co-workers in tending his creation, have often had an adverse effect on our planet. For much of the history of the Christian church the word ‘rule’ was seen to mean ‘have control over, dominate, exploit, use and command however you wish.’ While still not an ideal way of interpreting God’s command, perhaps this wasn’t quite so bad back when humanity’s ability to affect and devastate large areas of the planet was not as great as it has become in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. But now that we know that the unrestricted technological assault that our selfish species has perpetrated on our planet could quite possibly lead to the extinction of most, if not all, life on earth, we are slowly starting to catch up to what God meant.
God did give us dominion, but it was the gift of a gracious, generous God longing to include us in the tending and care of the world he had created. We were to take responsibility for the creation in which he placed us, to tend it, yes, but also to enjoy it, to revel in God’s spectacular creativity; to reflect the love of God towards creation and in turn to reflect back the worshipful glory of creation towards God. And we were to do all this on behalf of the world we were placed in and with the same love, care and tenderness that resides in the heart of God, the love, care and tenderness he showers on us daily.
Questions to Consider
Why have we got things so terribly wrong? How did we go astray?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, forgive us for our folly and selfish disobedience. Bring us back to your heart for creation that we may work with you. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – More Than Just Human Salvation
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Psalm 24:1
God is very concerned about people and place – the two go together, but we often think only in terms of the first of these. We can get so focused on our personal salvation, our own relationship with God and the importance of Humanity, that we think everything is only about people, forgetting about that fact that we are always people in an environment, in a place, and place is an intimate part of God’s plan too.
Places, spaces, habitats, environments are important for God too, because people are always to be found in a place, in an environment. We were made to interact with and have a relationship with the world in which we find ourselves. We are connected. We are intimately bound to creation and have been at each step in our relationship with God. When God created people, he put them in a garden. When God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt, he brought them to the Promised Land, a place where they could live as his people. So important was place for God that he came here himself, to this earth, to dwell amongst us and be with us. He met with us in a place. We are not who God wants us to be when we are isolated from – when we isolate ourselves from and turn our backs on – the world around us. What happened on the cross was revolutionary, not just for the rescue of humanity from sin, but for the rescue and restoration of creation too – God’s good creation, now free to be restored in him.
Questions to Consider
What does ‘place’ mean to you? How are you connected with the world around you? In what places do you especially connect with God? Why?
Prayer
Loving Father, I thank you that you have put me in a world, in a place where I can love and worship you, a space where I am free to share with others the plans you have for all people and all creation. Help me be faithful in all I do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – Creation Rescued from Us…
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Romans 8:19-23
The variety and beauty of this world show us how amazing God is. God designed the world to be a home for all creatures, humanity included. What an awesome and spectacularly beautiful world we belong to. We are so privileged to be able to enjoy it. We need to remember that the environment we live in is not to be taken for granted. God has given us the responsibility of caring for this creation. Sadly, we haven’t done this nearly as well as we should have, or nearly as well as we need to for this wonderful gift of a world that God has given us to survive – and us with it. Part of what God’s good creation needed rescuing from was us – and it’s a rescue operation that is still ongoing. But even though so very much of what is destroying God’s creation is because of our failed human practices, God in his grace still calls us to be part of his solution.
Our role is to care for the earth, not exploit it or waste its resources. God expects his children to care for his creation in the same way he does; the redemption and restoration offered by Jesus encompasses all human beings and all the places of the world. Nothing remains beyond the redemptive work of the cross. The animals, plants and ecosystems we share this planet with are God’s handiwork just as much as we are. We need to care for it better. We – all of us – need to start living in a way that protects God’s creation, not destroys it; that redeems and restores it, not condemns and ignores it.
Questions to Consider
How can you contribute to the global effort to care for the earth? How can you work together with others to do so?
Prayer
Creator God, forgive us for our failure to love and care for your creation as well as you do. Guide us your people as we seek to do better. Show us the true extent of the redemptive power of the cross. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – Rescue and Restoration
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Romans 8:19-22
Sin caused God’s creation to fall from the pristine state in which he made it. Everything has been affected by sin, including every part of our planet and everything on it, plants, animals, ecosystems, things we know about and things we have yet to discover. Nothing is unaffected in some way. But God promises that one day his creation will be completely free from sin, suffering and decay. The full and final consummation of the kingdom will involve the rescue and restoration of the entire creation. Exactly when that final incredible transformation takes place is up to God. In the meantime, following Christ involves demonstrating here and now what that new order will look like. As stewards looking after God’s world, each of us is asked to help bring about the change.
The Bible describes God’s creation as ‘groaning’ like a woman in labour. We are to go where creation ‘groans’, to heal people’s bodies, minds and souls by bringing them to Jesus, to restore the environment and work for freedom. As his obedient children we are to care as he does, and to act, protect, and restore as he does. Our care for this world is one of the ways we show our love for God. To belong to God’s family is to have his heart for his creation, every aspect of it, and not just for our own benefit but so that all creatures and all environments can thrive and flourish as God intends them to.
Questions to Consider
The Lord’s Prayer includes a call for transformation of everything in the created world when we pray, ‘May your kingdom come.’ What do you see around you that needs this transformation?
Prayer
Almighty Father, I pray that your kingdom would come in the places I see around me that need transforming, and that I would play my part in your kingdom coming. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – The Rupture and Repair of Relationship
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – John 1:10-13
The Creator of the world did not make the world and then turn away. He is a God intimately involved with the world and with us. The Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, came among us, came to the very world he had created as a human being, as one of us, and yet the world decided it did not know him. God came to us and we turned away. Our relationships – all of them – are fundamentally broken. Whether with family, friends, the wider world, creation itself, or even with our Creator God, our relationships are fractured and in desperate need of repair. God’s heart breaks for our world because it is not as it was intended.
It is not God’s intention that things be this way. God’s plan – with the cross at its centre – is for the ultimate restoration of all creation. The calling of a people – Israel – was the first step to restoration. The coming of Jesus was the ultimate expression of God’s commitment to rescuing his creation – in its entirety. But creation care isn’t just a response to environmental disaster; it was woven into the relationship between God and humans and creation from the start, when God created humans to be his co-workers in the garden. But issues of climate change do disproportionately impact the world’s poorest and most marginalised. So while there is a definite gospel imperative to care for our world – because there is a human imperative to be reunited with our Creator in caring for this world – we must stand first and foremost with the poor and marginalised who are suffering the worst effects of our neglect of our intended caretakers role.
Questions to Consider
What does it mean for us to be God’s co-workers in creation? How do we do this when creation is in such a parlous state?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, lead us by your Spirit into action on behalf of this world. Grow our concern to see bigger than ourselves. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)